Changing the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr

Final decision

Following the publication of the statutory notice and conducting an objection period no objections were received. As a result of this Gwynedd Council has decided, by means of a Decision Notice issued by the Cabinet Member for Education, dated 4 April 2019, to implement the proposal to change the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr from 4-11 to 3-11 so that children can be admitted to the nursery class in the September following their 3rd birthday, implementing the change on 1 September 2019.

Objection period

Following a period of statutory consultation on changing the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr and publishing a report on the consultation, Gwynedd Council's Cabinet Member for Education, through a decision notice, has:

i. Approved the proposal to change the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr from 4-11 to 3-11 so that children can be admitted to a nursery class in the September following their 3rd birthday, implementing the change on 1st September 2019.

ii. approved the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal in (i) above in accordance with the requirements of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 and School Organisation Code guidance 006/2013.

In accordance with the above decisions, a Statutory Notice was published on 16 January 2019.

Anyone can object to the proposal within a period of 28 days from the date of publication of this notice, which is by the 13th of February 2019.

Written objections should be sent to the attention of the Head of Education:

Consultation report

Consultation report

Following conducting a statutory consultation between 17 September – 29 October 2018, on the proposal to change the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr from 4-11 to 3-11, Gwynedd Council has produced a report on the consultation which includes responses to the comments received.

The next step will be for Gwynedd Council’s Cabinet Member for Education to consider the contents of this report and decide whether to publish a Decision Notice to announce the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal, or not.

Statutory Consultation

Following the publication of a decision notice on 3 August 2018, the Cabinet Member for Education decided to undertake a statutory consultation process on a proposal to change the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr from 4-11 to 3-11.

The statutory consultation will take place between 17 September and 29 October 2018. Gwynedd Council would like you to present your comments on the proposal during this period.

At the end of the consultation period we will present a report to the Gwynedd Council Cabinet. The report will include a response to all the comments received. The Cabinet will then make a decision on the next steps.

The statutory consultation document, background information pack, and other relevant documents can be found below:

Background

The Governing Body of Ysgol Llanbedr has contacted the Gwynedd Council Education Department to ask if they can change the age range of the school to 3-11 and accept children at a Nursery Class in September following their 3rd birthday. This would follow the same arrangement as already exists in the majority of primary schools in Gwynedd.

At present Ysgol Llanbedr offers education to children between the ages of 4-11 by accepting children to the Reception Class in September following their 4th birthday.

In order to change the age range, in accordance with the Welsh Government’s School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, a statutory process must be followed. The steps involved with this process can be seen below:

September 2018 – Begin the consultation with parents, children, school staff and governors, as well as other interested parties. This consultation will allow anyone to present comments on the proposal to change the age range of Ysgol Llanbedr from 4-11 to 3-11 from September 2019.

November 2018 – Following the consultation we will present a report to the Gwynedd Council Cabinet responding to any comments submitted. The Cabinet will then decide whether or not to allow publication of a Statutory Notice on the proposal.

January 2019 – Depending on the Cabinet decision, a Statutory Notice will be published. It will be possible to oppose the proposal at this stage.

March 2019 - Following the Statutory Notice period, a report will be presented to Gwynedd Council Cabinet, including any objections received. The Cabinet will then make a final decision on whether to approve the proposal or not.

September 2019 – Ysgol Llanbedr will change to accept children between the ages of 3-11, or continue with the present arrangements.